The government can create a joke of a bailout plan and get people to go along with it (or at least force people to go along with it)… so I thought I’d give it a shot:
1. Demand that the government stop spending YOUR money. This depression (notice I didn’t say recession… yes we are in a depression) is worldwide. Other counties have tried to ‘stimulate’ the economy by spending mass amounts of money.It hasn’t worked for them and it won’t work for us. Borrowing money we didn’t have (individually and as a whole) is how we got ourselves into this situation. Who on earth ever gave anyone the idea that spending our way out of trouble would ever help? Yes… it is as stupid as it sounds. When the economy was slowing down, the news media denied it. When the economy was in recession, then media only acknowledged that it was a slow down. Now that the economy is in full blown depression, the media will only acknowledge that we are in a recession. The more money we throw at the problem the more we increase our chances of having a total economic crash. Don’t get me wrong… letting the markets work will hurt. And it will hurt quite a bit. But postponing the inevitable will hurt more. And it will take longer too.
2. Prosecute those involved. Yes, Mr. Obama. I want to see you actually change something. I want to see you show everyone that the good ‘ol boys club is finished… you remember… one of the main things that you campaigned on. I want to see you prosecute the board members of the Federal Reserve for making credit so readily available and making interest rates so low… when they knew what would happen. Hell, I knew what would happen and I’d like to think that I’m not quite as bright as them. I want you to prosecute the mortgage rating agencies that knowingly and willfully packaged good loans with the bad and rated the packages as AAA (the highest rating) to be sold on secondary market.
3. Eliminate the Federal Reserve and let good ‘ol fashioned supply and demand determine interest rates and credit availability. Restrict government powers to those specifically enumerated in the constitution. Create a currency that is backed by gold or silver… or something of sustainable value. Then nobody could ever do to our economy what has happened here. Nobody could just print money and make all of these risky loans. The government couldn’t just print billions of dollars for bailouts either. Every time the government or Fed prints more money, it makes each and every dollar you have worth less. That’s why prices rise. That’s the main cause of inflation. Inflation doesn’t have to happen… or it could be very minimal.
4. Stop trying to fight the world and this nameless, faceless enemy called ‘terrorism’. You’d have better luck finding Santa Clause. What ever happened to Osama? This will instantly be of benefit to our economy. Pull all troops. All of them, Mr. Obama. No bait and switch tactics like “we’re going to pull troops out of Iraq” and then more them over to Afghanistan.
5. Start doing what the people want. The people, as a whole, were on board for the first stimulus package (even though I didn’t agree with that one either). Then you go and spend $350 million dollars and it can’t be accounted for? Are you serious? The people, as a whole, were NOT on board for the second stimulus package. But you went ahead with it anyways. Maybe you’ve forgotten that you are supposed to act on the will of the people. Not on your own whims. And if your elected politicians don’t do what you want them to do, you need to throw them out of office by any means necessary. The reason they do what they do is because they’ve been unchecked for so long.
6. This country needs to manufacture something… anything… anything at all. We are a nation of consumers and not producers. Our industry has been sold down the river by our elected politicians.
7. Reform the entire educational system… and actually teach kids something of value. It’s sad how much time is wasted on history and religion classes. I won’t even get started on the lies learned there. How about teaching kids how to manage credit or select a mortgage or save for retirement. Or how to start their own business. Or how to select a job and negotiate a salary. Or whatever. Anything but the nonsense they teach. Teach people to be independent thinkers instead of corporate drones.
8. Bring back the usury laws which limits how much interest can be charged and how it can be structured. Did you know that on a $100,000 mortgage, you will pay over $116,000 in interest alone. So that’s $100,000 to pay off the original loan and $116,000 in interest. That’s $216,000. And that’s also assuming you don’t refinance. Did you also know that 98% of the money you send to the mortgage company in the first year of your mortgage will go directly to interest? You will never get it back. Sounds like someone is getting screwed to me.
In light of all of this… what does this mean for you as a business owner? You need to trim the fat in your business… more now than ever. In good times, you could get away with not keeping a close eye on the bottom line. Now… there is no choice. Cut or be cut out.
Negotiate strategic partnerships with others in your niche, pool resources and share risk. Track your marketing. Make sure that every dollar you spend is being tracked and is coming back with a few friends. Cut out the marketing that isn’t working. Eliminate the term ‘branding’ from your marketing plan.
You must create value for your customers and have a rock solid USP. This ain’t an option. It’s an obligation. Use the 80/20 rule to find out who your best customers are and find out how you can better serve them. Survey your customers and find out what they want and develop new products or services to suit those needs.
Need some help getting all of this done?
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